'Mozart in the Jungle' star delivers high notes

December 22, 2014 8:11 PM

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On the heels of Transparent, Amazon ends the year with Mozart in the Jungle (Tuesday, ***½ stars out of four), yet another terrifically offbeat and off-the-beaten-path comedy, sparked by another great, career-shifting central performance — this time from Gael Garcia Bernal as the charismatic new conductor of the fictional New York Symphony.

Produced by Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, John Strauss and Paul Weitz (who also directs), and adapted from a memoir by musician Blair Tindall, Mozart focuses on two newcomers wending their way through the perhaps surprisingly cutthroat world of classical music. One is Tindall's stand-in Hailey (...